Common Terms and Definitions
SaaS Terminology, Abbreviations and Acronymns
| SaaS | Software as a Service. Often used synonymously with on-demand software, or software on-demand. |
On-Demand Software |
Software delivered to the customer via the Internet as a service (e.g. salesforce.com), rather than software that is purchased or licensed. |
Multi-Tenancy |
A single instance of a hosted application or platform that serves multiple customers, or "tenants." As an analogy, consider how a single power plant provides electricity services for a collection of customers, in contrast to a single power generator serving a single consumer. |
Mashup |
A web application where some data or functionality comes from multiple parties via a public interface or API. For example, combining salesforce.com and Google Maps to allow account locations to be visualized on a map. |
| Apex | Salesforce.com's platform for application development. Apex is an on-demand development platform that allows customers and third parties to create their own on-demand applications, similar to salesforce.com's CRM application. Apex code is the programming language used with the Apex platform. |
| SSS | Salesforce.com Service and Support |